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Divide and conquer. It’s an old phrase; some say dating back more than 2000 years. Who is responsible for the phrase is unimportant, the meaning, however, IS. Divide and conquer refers to a strategy for gaining or maintaining power. One way to divide and conquer is to undermine a powerful alliance, break it into smaller groups that aren’t as effective at getting a job done. Another way to divide and conquer is to prevent small groups from joining forces to become a single powerful force.
Women as a political entity have long been subjected to this strategy, but on occasion women have demonstrated their power to unite. One of the most notable in recent American history was during the years leading up to the enactment of the 18th Amendment to the Constitution. Prohibition. Author Daniel Okrent in his book Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition explains the importance of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union to the passage of Prohibition. Woman took to the streets to protest the saloon culture, a culture that fostered drinking. Household funds could be squandered during alcohol consumptions. Other negative consequences of saloon culture were domestic violence and the spread of venereal disease. Saloons were attached to brothels.
Suffragist Susan B. Anthony was a long-time Prohibitionist, but she did not embrace the bigotry of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union. Yet, she decided to form an alliance with them. Why? She reasoned that an alliance with WCTU would eventually increase the cause of suffrage tenfold. Anthony efforts launched a women’s rights movement that grew in size, power and momentum until the Nineteenth Amendment was ratified. Women finally won the right to vote. Along the way women also earned the right to be admitted to college, inherit property, and obtain guardianship of their own children.
Today, there are many political forces working to divide and conquer women. What’s at stake this time is women’s health. Here are a few examples:
• Although organizations like Susan G. Komen for the Cure say their missions are apolitical and aimed at finding cures for women’s diseases it seems they DO have a political agenda. In the case of Komen, an organization supposedly dedicated to finding a cure to eradicate breast cancer, they defunded breast cancer prevention, screenings and education at Planned Parenthood health centers. PP health centers are often the only provider of breast cancer prevention services for low-income and uninsured women. PP of Southwest Ohio, for example, provided more than 8,000 clinical breast exams. Women with abnormal screenings were referred to local healthcare providers for follow-up and diagnosis.
Another aspect of Komen’s activities hasn’t yet received much attention. Despite raising millions of dollars for breast cancer research Komen hasn’t funded stem cell research. Rose Marie Robertson, chief science officer at the American Heart Association, acknowledged that embryonic stem cells could lead to breakthroughs for the many illnesses, and her organization supports federal funding of the research.
Stem cell research could study the genetic causes of breast cancer, decipher the basic biology of breast cancer tumors and lead to new drugs to treat the disease. Komen won’t fund it. The breast cancer organization with a mission to find a cure denies politics has anything to do with their lack of support.
• Women’s access to family planning is also under siege. This isn’t an abortion issue. This is about condoms, spermacides, and birth control pills. Mill Romney is trying to divide and conquer by politicizing that the White House wants to assault religious freedom. As there are no women running for President it isn’t likely we’ll hear how a lack of access to family planning services is an assault on women’s rights. What freedom do women have if they have no access to safe methods to prevent pregnancy? What kind of life can she be expected to have if she has no money to pay for prenatal care, daycare, or other basic health and services for the child(ren) she had not wanted to conceive but was forced to because she had no access to family planning? Do you imagine women will have an easier time finding gainful employment or time to go college? Do you think women will have more or less opportunities open to them as a result?
There are a few signs suggest that a new women’s movement may be taking shape. For instance:
• A high-ranking official at the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation resigned from the fallout of the charity’s initial, but since reversed, halt to funding breast cancer screening by Planned Parenthood.
• A survey released by Public Policy Polling finds 53 percent of Catholic voters and 63 percent of women want their access to affordable birth control protected.
What would it take for you to stand up for your rights as a woman? Is there an issue affect women’s rights that you wish more women would stand up against now?
